@article{anderson_2024, title={Nanoscopic imaging of ancient protein and vasculature offers insight into soft tissue and biomolecule fossilization}, volume={27}, ISSN={["2589-0042"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110538}, DOI={10.1016/j.isci.2024.110538}, abstractNote={Fossil bones have been studied by paleontologists for centuries. Despite this, empirical knowledge regarding the progression of biomolecular (soft) tissue diagenesis within ancient bone is limited; this is particularly the case for specimens spanning Pleistocene directly into pre-Ice Age strata. A nanoscopic approach is reported herein that facilitates direct imaging, and thus empirical observation, of soft tissue preservation state. Presented data include the first extensive nanoscopic (up to 150,000× magnification), three-dimensional (3D) images of ancient bone protein and vasculature; chemical signals consistent with collagen protein and membrane lipids, respectively, are also localized to these structures. These findings support the analyzed permafrost bones are not fully fossilized but rather represent subfossil bone tissue as they preserve an underlying collagen framework. Extension of these methods to specimens spanning the geologic record will help reveal changes biomolecular tissues undergo during fossilization and is a potential proxy approach for screening specimen suitability for molecular sequencing.}, number={9}, journal={ISCIENCE}, author={Anderson, Landon A.}, year={2024}, month={Sep} }
 @article{anderson_2023, title={A chemical framework for the preservation of fossil vertebrate cells and soft tissues}, volume={240}, ISSN={["1872-6828"]}, url={http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85151297931&partnerID=MN8TOARS}, DOI={10.1016/j.earscirev.2023.104367}, abstractNote={Reports of preserved cells and other soft tissues in ancient vertebrates, including dinosaurs, have been met with controversy within the field of vertebrate palaeontology. To explain such reports, Schweitzer et al. (2014) hypothesized that iron-mediated radical crosslinking preserves ancient soft tissues in a manner somewhat analogous to histological tissue fixation. In 2018, Wiemann et al. proposed a second hypothesis that these soft tissues were preserved as advanced glycation/lipoxidation end products (AGEs/ALEs). The chemistry underlying these hypotheses, however, remains poorly described for fossil vertebrates. This review posits a chemical framework describing the persistence of biological "soft" tissues into deep time. The prior iron-mediated radical crosslinking and AGE/ALE mechanisms are re-described in context of established chemistry from a diversity of scientific fields. Significantly, this framework demonstrates the hypotheses presented by Schweitzer et al. (2014) and Wiemann et al. (2018) are, in many cases, subsequent steps of a single, unified reaction mechanism, and not separate hypotheses. Knowledge of the chemical mechanisms underlying vertebrate soft tissue preservation has direct implications for molecular archaeology and palaeontology, including efforts at molecular sequence recovery within the ancient DNA and palaeoproteomic communities. Such implications that are immediately apparent from examining the chemical framework are discussed.}, journal={EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS}, publisher={Elsevier BV}, author={Anderson, Landon A.}, year={2023}, month={May} }
 @article{anderson_2022, title={Biomolecular histology as a novel proxy for ancient DNA and protein sequence preservation}, volume={12}, ISSN={["2045-7758"]}, url={https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9518}, DOI={10.1002/ece3.9518}, abstractNote={AbstractResearchers' ability to accurately screen fossil and subfossil specimens for preservation of DNA and protein sequences remains limited. Thermal exposure and geologic age are usable proxies for sequence preservation on a broad scale but are of nominal use for specimens of similar depositional environments. Cell and tissue biomolecular histology is thus proposed as a novel proxy for determining sequence preservation potential of ancient specimens with improved accuracy. Biomolecular histology as a proxy is hypothesized to elucidate why fossils/subfossils of some depositional environments preserve sequences while others do not and to facilitate selection of ancient specimens for use in molecular studies.}, number={12}, journal={ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION}, author={Anderson, Landon A. A.}, year={2022}, month={Dec} }